Royal Academy Presents: Experiencing Architecture – Inviting Dialogue. Musarc at Walmer Yard, 21 April 2018

The Royal Academy hosts two events that explore the dynamic and reciprocal nature of architectural experience. The title — Experiencing Architecture: Inviting Dialogue — is both a reflection of the event’s intention and the belief that a meaningful experience of architecture is one that results in a reciprocal and evolving relationship with the spaces we inhabit.

The event comprises two parts: one an experiential encounter, the other a symposium. In the first, which takes place on a Saturday evening, a dialogue will be invited through an experience of architecture – an exchange between building, visitor, and performer. Participants will be invited to inhabit and occupy the four houses of Walmer Yard, designed by Peter Salter, while experiencing performances that experiment with the possibilities the houses offer for sound, narrative, and movement. This experience will be followed by a symposium, lasting all of the following day, at the Royal Academy. The symposium will put the night’s events into context as part of a programme of presentations and discussions.

Musarc has been invited to develop a site-specific performance that engages with Walmer Yard. Our response was to work around the peculiarity of Walmer Yard’s plan and materiality; its place in the city; but especially the domestic aspect of the buildings in the context of a public performance. The ensemble has developed three short vignettes which involve (the sounds of) cooking, bells, bouncy balls, and poetry.

Read more on the Royal Academy website.